Use of Credible Sources to Develop Ideas

A great deal of true scientific learning and communication takes place through the reading and "jumping" through published, peer-reviewed scientific literature. First learning to read and understand scientific literature is a HUGE step to developing as a critical thinker and scientist, and one that I found difficult and intimidating to develop. Once I got there (with lots of practice), I found the ability to read the scientific literature to be very rewarding and exciting.

Firstly, scientific literature is highly credible. It's been peer-reviewed by several other scientists who are familiar with, if not experts in the field. Secondly, it's always coming out. It's not a stagnant piece like an old printed encyclopedia, that's the beauty of online journals and databases. Thirdly, there is A LOT of literature. For all the people that say they would love to live in a library and learn everything: With scientific databases, you can learn it anywhere! You no longer have to be locked in a dusty library.

As a scientist, it is so important to be up to date and comfortable with sifting through scientific literature (many of us find it rather exciting), because that is one of the largest modes of communication from scientist to scientist all over the world. We then use this knowledge to base our research off of. It tells us what's been done, what didn't work, what did work, and techniques of both. It's inspiration to find out more through research or more literature review.

Now, because there is so much literature to review, it's imperative to use citations in our research papers, grant proposals, and scientific papers not only for credit where credit is due, but to show the reader the purpose, background, and potential techniques you, as the writer, require. Nothing is stand alone in science; we are rarely at the point where research is done without basis or reason. Aldous Huxley said "All science is the reduction of multiplicities to unities". Using scientific literature is just part of that sharing and that combining of knowledge.

"All science is the reduction of multiplicities to unities" - Aldous Huxley

This first paper is an example of use of scientific literature in a course assignment for an upper level biology seminar course (BIO 460). The paper is an exploration of a topic with a bibliography to provide basis and evidentiary examples for support. It's a topic that I am very interested in and believe in. However, I think a big fault of my research into this paper is exploring the opposing sides and thoughts. I merely put in all this support about how the pollution is present and could be harmful, but I didn't look to see if there was any opposition. Even if such opposition wasn't right up front for me to find, I still should've explored that part of the "story" per se. It's an easy way to get blindsided by my own interests, and it's a mistake I'll keep an eye out for in the future.

The second example I've included is of my NSF-GRFP submission. This is an example of the use of scientific literature to provide evidence for why a research topic should be funded. Using scientific literature for grant proposals is a major paradigm of how I will use scientific literature in my future.